When construction work associated with remodeling a building's interior space is being carried out, it is often desirable to maintain the functionality and cleanliness of interior space which is spaced apart from the area being worked on by setting up a temporary barrier to partition the building space. Often it is necessary to provide doors for passage through the barrier.
In the past, practices for doing this have included so-called soft barriers, which are essentially plastic sheeting that is fastened to existing walls and temporary studs, rafters and floor plates, and so-called hard barriers, which are light duty walls made of wood or gypsum board panels that are attached to temporary framing attached to the walls, ceiling and floor. The latter typically have a more pleasing appearance and are sturdier. However, installing such barriers can involve construction noise and dust, which is undesirable.
Thus, temporary and re-usable factory-manufactured barriers have been used commercially. U.S. Pat. No. 8,839,592 of Foran describes a prefabricated barrier system in which a lower panel has an attached upper panel that adjusts vertically, to make the height of the barrier fit the height of the space being partitioned.
One of the problems encountered with such kind of prefabricated and reusable barrier is how to engage the barrier with a drop ceiling, because of difficulty with applying effective upward force, an aim to avoid moving a ceiling tile which might lead to dust and debris contamination.
Another need is for a wall system which is adapted to running along an irregular path, as compared to a straight line path and possible right angle corners. A further need is to cope readily with temporary wall lengths which are not an even multiple of the widths of individual interconnected panels which form the temporary wall. Any improved wall system should capable of being easily assembled and disassembled and should be durable.